Well, the new Phantom hasn't gotten much love since the Tango and Zephyr were released.

It is like an Ultra 2 with a clipper electronics box and two section post. Comes with G-70 and ultra vest.

Okay? but honestly I think Tiffen has waaaaaaayyyyyyyyy to many rigs

Yes. They have to discontinue some of the "older" rigs. I remember Apple doing the same kind of bad marketing with too many models and confusing model names. That was in the middle 90´s and almost killed the company. Today there is only 6: 3 laptops, 2 desktops without monitor and 1 desktop with integrated monitor. Then you choose the version you need.

Keep it simple, or customers get confused, they buy the wrong rig or no rig at all. With the ranges of todays arms, you don´t need more than 4-5 rigs. Also I believe that as many components as possible should be interchangable between rigs. And all components sold seperately. A lot of companies think they can protect their brand making different sizes of everything, but I think in the long run it doesn´t work that way.Do we really need more than 1 armpost size?Do we really need more than 2 dovetail sizes?Do we really need more than 1-2 socket block sizes?Do we really need more than 1 socket block to arm connector size?

Zephyr Arm/Vest/Sled 20 pound camera with requested customer features
New Stage design-HD capable/TANGO Compatible/New Base with Movable components
No-Tools Operation - Two post system with many new features.

Ultra2 Has all ULTRA2 benefits with 28 unique features only found on this system.

We appreciate that many people on the forum have various stabilizer systems that are considered to fit their specific needs. We offer and appeal to a generally wider audience and suggest that anyone should make an educated decision based on their specific needs and feature requirements. We provide Steadicam systems that are developed from suggestions of our customers and the unique developments and designs of the Steadicam Inventors and Tiffen Engineering staff. Each system is unique in the market addressed and offers added features and most importantly many benefits to the Steadicam Operator.

Never will we debate that one system is better than another! It is clear that each has its place and merits or the company developing and marketing the stabilizer would no longer be in business!

The Steadicam systems offer features and price points for all segments of the stabilizer markets on a global worldwide basis. The reason we appear to have many models compared to the ones referenced is that we match price points and offer professional features in all markets instead of a specific area.

If you need more detail there is a Steadicam Product Configuration Guide at www.steadicam.com that compares most of our systems. The newly introduced systems will be added soon. Should you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact one of our Tiffen Account Managers.

We appreciate the continued interest and support for all of our Tiffen products.

I've flown 5 pound cameras on my Ultra2 (added a few pounds via a plate or cage to get the weight up to 15 pounds or so). So yes, it can be done, and I don't absolutely need another rig, but....

It's a far more intelligent choice, if one is always flying light cameras, to have a smaller, properly sized to the task, professionally featured Steadicam (for less cash as well).

Frank and the website lay out the particulars, but I'd like to emphasize that the various models are a response to customers asking for differently featured rigs. The rig I use suits me well, and the same should be true for any operator in their professional situation.

I stress professional here, because it isn't only about price and weight carrying capacity; it's about having the functionality, feel and precision of the biggest rigs, arms, and vests no matter what camera one carries. That's the goal, which is not easy to achieve at all price points.

Also, in the options, a customer can swap out monitors, battery types (AB, V-mount), arms, vests, or motorize the stage or not, or buy anything a la carte... to each his own!

To the questions "do we need more than 1 arm post size, etc." I would say emphatically YES. There is no good reason to either grossly over or under spec a part just to fit an arbitrary standard. Adding unnecessary costs to lighter rigs really makes no sense at all.

For instance, the guy who buys a Flyer does not need to spend extra dough to mate his lightweight arm with a big (read expensive and over-spec'd for this task) socket block. Actually, the screw pattern for the block is the same, so he could mate the Flyer arm with any VEST easily! His choice.

Regardless, giving the customers what they ask for seems to be a pretty good idea.

You really need to get the Phantom on the tiffen site. You also need to get pricing and more info on each product to the dealers. I would love to sell Zephyr rigs (Steadicam Dealer) as well as buy one for myself to replace my Flyer LE but no information is available.

Help us make these new products successful so dealers and users can talk about them from an informed pov. Thanks and keep up the good work.